Adam Carolla is sure to rant about something when he performs at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach.

Star photo, file

Vic Alejandro, part of Thursday's Latino Showcase, has appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Contributed photo

There's laughs, and then there's the business of laughs. Veteran comedian Randy Lubas learned a little about both when he launched the inaugural Ventura Comedy Festival last fall — lessons the founder hopes will pay off when the event's sophomore effort unfurls Monday and rolls out the jokes for an entire week.

The second edition runs through Sept. 30 and will feature more than 150 comedians in 27 shows at six venues, all but one within the Ventura Harbor. Headliners include Adam Carolla, Michael Yo of "Chelsea Lately" fame, actor Stephen Tobolowsky, Greek comedian Basile and Filipino comic Rex Navarrete.

Lubas is trying to wring laughs from all over the comedy demographic landscape. He's again seeking Ventura's Funniest Person, a competition that's already in preliminary rounds. An array of themed shows includes a Bad Girls night for female comedians, a Jews Gone Wild event for Jewish comedians, a Rainbow show for gays and lesbians, a Latino comedy night, a Sept. 28 gig for African-American comics that's being dubbed "Black Friday," and so on.

Some of those are holdovers from last year's event, while others are new. This being an election year, there's also a Left vs. Right political showdown, comedy style; conservative comic Evan Sayet will represent the right and comedian Bob Dubac will defend the left.

"It's a little bit of something for everyone," said Lubas, who also co-owns the Ventura Harbor, where many of these events will go down. "We've got a really eclectic and exciting lineup."

He's hoping the many-tents-under-one-umbrella approach will sell. Carolla's been plugging it on his popular podcast, Navarrete has strong ties in the Los Angeles area's sizable Filipino population and Basile has similar reach in the Greek community, Lubas noted.

Sirius XM Radio once again will broadcast live from the festival; this year, comedian Jay Thomas will do his Sirius show live from it.

Lubas, a 30-year standup comedy veteran who also has a comedy club in Valencia, is mining his many ties in the Los Angeles area to fill event bills

"I've got comics who are willing to come all the way up from L.A. during 'Carmageddon' to do a 10-minute set," he said, referencing the partial closure of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles that's slated to occur over the Sept. 29-30 weekend.

SOMETIMES, EVEN LAUGHS LOSE

Lubas admitted to being a nervous Nellie when he pushed out his Comedy Fest baby last year, and said the butterflies are still there on the eve of Version 2.0.

"I wish I could say they have gone away, but they haven't," Lubas said. "There's always some level of anxiety."

Predictably, the first run, held over three days last November and featuring around 100 comedians, had its share of growing pains.

"Last year, by every measure, was a success — except financially," Lubas said. "But I learned what to do, and what to change."

He said he made strategic mistakes last year, the chief one being handing out big money guarantees to comedians Gallagher, Louie Anderson and Jeff Garcia for a show at the Majestic Ventura Theater. Renting the theater was expensive, and the event did not sell well.

"I lost big there," Lubas said. "I was thinking big and epic. I brought in legendary comedians in my first year. It takes time. It takes time for the public to wrap their brains around what a comedy festival is."

This time around, Lubas is not using the Ventura Theater — nothing against the venue, he said, "but it just didn't work for us" — and going with smaller venues, including a few tented shows.

The second run features more comedians and is spread out over more days, though the latter is primarily due to putting the semifinals of the Ventura's Funniest Person contest on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club.

Lubas, who's appeared on Comedy Central, Showtime and A&E's "An Evening at the Improv," said he likely will perform this year.

He said he will probably open for Tobolowsky's 3 p.m. show Sept. 29 at the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club, and also emcee a couple of other shows. Tobolowsky, the veteran character actor, is slated to tell funny stories from his career in a gig titled "The Tobolowsky Files Live." (For an in-depth feature story on Tobolowsky, see next week's Sept. 28 Time Out edition).

BETTING ON THE FUTURE

Overall, the event is a chance to see four or five comedians in one night — or for the hardcores, 60 or 70 or more over the course of the week. Where else can you find 150 comics in one place over such a time? Lubas called that an "amazing and fun" experience but added it doesn't happen much anymore.

"We're putting Ventura not only on the national map but an international map," he said in reference to Sirius XM Radio's reach and the multiethnic talent on the bill.

He had the event in mind for several years. He looked at the large comedy festival that Montreal hosts each July and wondered why something similar couldn't catch on here.

"I thought, 'Why not come here and see this beautiful harbor and this beautiful, cool, eclectic town?' " he said.

Yes, he could have picked a better economy during which to start this thing. But Lubas has designs on making it an annual event and envisions it growing in many ways — to the point, maybe, where comedy shows broadcast on national TV, say cable's HBO, come from gigs recorded at the Ventura Comedy Festival.

That's a ways off; this year, Lubas hopes to break even or maybe even put a dent in the money he lost last year.

"I think this is going to be great and exciting," he said. "And I know there will come a time when this will pay off — even monetarily."

VENTURA COMEDY FESTIVAL

The second annual festival begins Monday and runs through Sept. 30. It will feature more than 150 comedians in 27 shows at six venues, all but one in the Ventura Harbor. A portion of proceeds from events will go to Cancer Support Community (formerly the Wellness Center) in Westlake Village. Highlights include: